Many attempts have been made to train or shape bushes and plants in various forms. Support frames have been utilized to support horticultural growths of ornamental plants. A fixed permanent trellis, for instance, has been widely used for supporting continuous plant growth. Artificial plants have been affixed to pegged mounting frames as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,458,384. Others have provided supporting framework to influence the shaping of plants. A topiary shaping frame for example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,812 for use as a cutting and trimming guide in shaping vines or climbing plants into artistic form where the framework can be dismantled and removed from a formed plant.
It now has been found that a free standing, living horticultural plant can be grown in the shape of a heart by planting at least two plants and bending the two trunks in the form of opposed lobal configurations to form a permanent growth pattern. The two opposed trunks are tied together while supported by a temporary frame member. The frame can be subsequently removed after the plant trunks have reached a point of growth where the living plants form a permanent shape, become free-standing and continue to maintain growth in the heart-shaped form as conventional plants without the assistance of the support. The trained plants grow foliage which can be trimmed as desired to provide a foliage configuration in conjunction with the growing heart-shaped tree trunks. Accordingly, a major object of the present invention is to form a free-standing, living plant in the shape of a heart by using an artificial support means to hold the trunks in a heart-shaped form during a growing period, using the trunks of two or more plants to form the heart shape, training the foliage across the middle or midsection of the formed heart-shaped plant, and then removing the support to provide a free-standing, permanently formed plant. These and other advantages of this invention will become more apparent by referring to the drawings and the detailed description of the invention.